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> > I will be adding DCC capabilities soon through - so some of these train-heads
> > can do some interesting programming.
>
>
> Hmmm. I was seriously considering writing a leJOS package to support the LDCC IR
> Protocol. (Here's why: http://news.lugnet.com/trains/?n=20951 ) What capabilities
> were you going to add? Depending on your timeline, you might convince me to try
> FORTH.
OK, I've looked at your wish list and have the following comments
with respect to how I see the pbForth implementation of DCC.
1. How important is it to have more than one port with DCC
capabilities. The reason I'm asking is that it "would be
nice" (tm) to have one output controlling the track and
another output controlling a pair of wires that does stuff
like driving discrete motors, lamps, etc.
I know there are issues with bit timing, but I think I can
get around them if we're willing to accept a slower bit rate.
2. How important is it to have a "pure LEGO" approach. I'm also
prototyping a power booseter that will take a battery pack
or wall-wart output and buffer the motor driver so that we
don't need to parallel the RCX outputs or worry about burning
them out.
3. The traditional Forth approach is to make the DCC functions as
general as possible and let the user write the wrappers that he
needs.
One of the cool things about pbForth is that the train folks that
are programmers can write these wrappers as needed and then make
firmware images that they can share.
NOTE well that you DON'T need to install a complicated programming
environment, the compiling, debugging, etc is all done on the
brick itself!
4. How important is the ability to read back the DCC data or to
set parameters on the controllers? Again, the Forth approach is to
provide a minimum set of functions and then let the application
folks figure out the rest.
Just some thoughts to get the discussion going. I'd really like to
know more about your vision for this system.
NOTE: Thanks to Dave Koudys for lending me a DCC train motor and a
circle of track to help me develop this stuff!
Ralph
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Check out pbFORTH for LEGO Mindstorms at:
<http://www.hempeldesigngroup.com/lego/pbForth>
Buy "Extreme Mindstorms: an Advanced Guide to Lego Mindstorms"
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1893115844/hempeldesigngrou>
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